Fall 2026

Introduction to the Theory and Design of Programming Languages

Introduction to the theory and design of programming languages, covering various paradigms, concurrency, and formal specification.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Adithya Murali

Summary

1 / 6

Historical reviews of Justin Hsu, Kaiser Pister: Programming projects are reported as difficult and time-intensive under Justin Hsu, while Kaiser Pister's homework is criticized as unstructured and tightly scheduled.

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

E C E/​COMP SCI 354 and (COMP SCI 367 or 400) or graduate/professional standing or declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals

    • COMPSCI/ECE 354
    • take one
    • graduate/professional standing
    • declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals
    take one
COMPSCI 538

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • COMPSCI/ECE 354
    • Any of
    • graduate/professional standing
    • declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals

Professors

Fall 2026
Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Adithya Murali is the current instructor. Historical reviews for Justin Hsu highlight his accessibility, passion, and helpfulness, though the course content is challenging. No reviews exist for Murali to assess his specific teaching style or strengths.

JUSTIN HSU is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KAISER PISTER is recorded teaching in Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction28 / 400

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Historical reviews describe COMPSCI 538 as an interesting course covering programming languages and paradigms, offering valuable theoretical and practical knowledge.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 2.96 GPA, 40.5% A/AB (n=42 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.43 GPA, 76.3% A/AB (n=38 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.97 GPA, 37.5% A/AB (n=16 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Justin Hsu, Kaiser Pister: Programming projects are reported as difficult and time-intensive under Justin Hsu, while Kaiser Pister's homework is criticized as unstructured and tightly scheduled.

Historical reviews of Justin Hsu, Kaiser Pister: Student satisfaction depends heavily on the instructor, with Justin Hsu praised for support and Kaiser Pister facing complaints about disorganized materials.

Topics

  • Procedural, object-oriented, functional, and logic paradigms
  • Serial and concurrent programming
  • Execution models and formal specification techniques

Skills

  • Design and theory of programming language paradigms.
  • Serial and concurrent programming techniques.
  • Execution models and formal specification techniques.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Fall 2026 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
COMPSCI 538 · Fall 2026

Introduction to the Theory and Design of Programming Languages

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:266:004278",
    "course_id": "COMPSCI 538",
    "course_uid": "course_72304a5f1ade48d79a193831",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "004278",
    "source_subject_id": "266",
    "title": "Introduction to the Theory and Design of Programming Languages",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

Download the original dataset
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "eaacf8837440b8a821bc2f9304f68b88cbb58422614def8d5e9dfca6435ae341",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}